Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Robert763]

Quick bit of RF fun. Neighbour has noisy TV because she's deaf. Zero luck talking to her because she's got a "fuck everyone else attitude". However we have a shared antenna which is not boosted and just split.

If I terminate my feed with a short then it's glorious silence! 🤔

Anecdote: I lived with my wife in the second floor of a house with the landlord in the first floor. His mother was a little bit deaf and lived in a room in the first floor too. At that time I was a little bit into packet radio. So one day I heard a loud humming sound from the first floor every time the computer sent a packet out. It took some seconds and my bell rang. And the landlord asking me what the hell I am doing. I shrugged and said I had no idea what he was talking about  At that second the computer sent out a packet and the loud humming was heard again. So now it was obvious to him that I had nothing to do with it as I was just talking to him The next day a new TV was delivered and installed. Problem solved 

A friend used the RF signal generator in the lab to just outvote a radio station with awful music, the colleague had tuned in.

Many years ago I built a 30V 60A electronic load using multiple power MOSFETS. It was part of an aircraft battery capacity tester. It seemed to be working fine until I noticed that at certain curent settings the workshop FM radio went silent..... We were close to the runway and the Instrument Landing System frequencyis just above the FM band
I'd forgotten to fit the100R resistor at the gate of each FET  I thus confirmed that normal power MOSFETs will work at VHF.

[Specmaster]

Here it is nearly 0900 hours and I'm just now rolling my sorry arse out of bed. Need coffee. Lots of coffee.

Anyway, the Type 547. It mocks me again although this time in a different manner. Since my last post yesterday showing status it has not failed with the dancing horizontal again. I had it on yesterday for hours and no issues. Even performed several shutdowns and cold starts and it came up and stabilized. Powered it up just now and other than a few unrelated jitters while warming up it's fine. I'd like to pronounce the horizontal issue fixed but I just know it will make a monkey out of me. So I'm going to tempt Murphy and go ahead and say that issue is fixed and then go have a banana. 

My plan today was to restore the vertical output circuit with a big unload of a parts cannon but I think I'm going to let it cook some more.  Given past history with this beast I think it's the prudent thing to do. I have all the time in the world and since I'm making progress for a change I'd rather take it slow. If all is well today then tomorrow I'll rebuild the vertical.

BTW, the current on the external +100V supply never exceeds 320mA which is within the 400mA design limit.         

Can't you rig up some form of a load on the internal power supply (other than the scope) and then increase the load slowly and see how that behaves, maybe arrange it in such a fashion, via a relay, that if an error occurs, before it can damage anything, that the error shuts the system down and alerts you?

[Vince]

Anyone noticing a new problem with uploading pictures to the forum, the last two posts I added the pictures as usual (missing out the problematic first attachment option) and found a couple of random incorrect pictures from another a previous post of mine instead.
David

Had that happen to me once... a year ago. Has not happened since...

[Specmaster]

The seller with that TTi 15Mhz scope sent me an offer of 10% off the asking price just because I'm watching it, I think that they'll have to go much, much higher with the discount if they want to sell this, I like it because it is TTi and I've never seen one of them before, but just how did they ever get to value this thing at £171, even if it does appear to be working  That kind of money can get a full colour dual trace 50 / 60Mhz LCD display scope with far more capability.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265247910389

In comparison I paid £99 for that TBS1052B with 20 power ups 

The Black Star one is probably worth £10 for the interest only. It's barely useful compared to a 20MHz hameg

Does the 20MHz Hameg have a battery compartment, as the Black-Star does?

@Specmaster you should be able to make a counteroffer now they have sent one. And the silly price, I've noticed the seller, they know fuck all about what they are selling & it's value, hence why the 5326B is still listed at £360.  I've mentioned that one before on here.

David

Yeah, I've already declined the offer and made a more realistic one along with a suitable comment and reason for my low ball counter offer. I fully expect that it will either be ignored or declined back. 

[Cubdriver]

I'm actually thinking aboot getting my own grinder again from Amazon, but I couldn't be arsed to shop it and the thought of adding all that mess to my life in the middle of a move just makes me cringe...

mnem
^* to certain definitions of the term

If you're feeling rich I can heartily recommend the grinder I treated myself to the Christmas before last when I also got a new espresso machine.

This beastie:



Details here: https://baratza.com/grinder/sette-270wi/

Weights the ground coffee as it grinds it. Adjusts from boulders to Turkish coffee grind. The best bit is that the path is straight from hopper to output so no ground coffee gets trapped in there (maybe a few 10s of milligrams at most) so you get the freshest ground coffee it's possible to get.

I've had, counts on fingers, 20 months of faultless service from it. The downside? The price is what you'd expect to pay for something that is a first class design and made properly, and supported with a proper parts service and advice. They make cheaper grinders and, if my experience with this model is anything to go by, I'm sure that they would make a good purchase too. Baratza have 10 dealers in Ontario.

I'm tempted to go old school...


-Pat

<edit - forgot to resize quoted image>

[mnementh]

I'm actually thinking aboot getting my own grinder again from Amazon, but I couldn't be arsed to shop it and the thought of adding all that mess to my life in the middle of a move just makes me cringe...

mnem
^* to certain definitions of the term

If you're feeling rich I can heartily recommend the grinder I treated myself to the Christmas before last when I also got a new espresso machine.

This beastie:      Details here: https://baratza.com/grinder/sette-270wi/

Weights the ground coffee as it grinds it. Adjusts from boulders to Turkish coffee grind. The best bit is that the path is straight from hopper to output so no ground coffee gets trapped in there (maybe a few 10s of milligrams at most) so you get the freshest ground coffee it's possible to get.

I've had, counts on fingers, 20 months of faultless service from it. The downside? The price is what you'd expect to pay for something that is a first class design and made properly, and supported with a proper parts service and advice. They make cheaper grinders and, if my experience with this model is anything to go by, I'm sure that they would make a good purchase too. Baratza have 10 dealers in Ontario.

Yeah; this is more the kind I'm wanting, with a quality pass-thru gravity feed/burr design and proper adjustable grind, etc. However my budget ATM is more the $40 impact-grind model from KitchenAid. 

Hence the "couldn't be arsed to shop it" part, as almost all of the "affordable" electric burr grinders are a ramp/gravity feed design, from the $40 B&D to the $200 Bodum. 


I am especially kicking myself right now for passing on one of these at the local Thrift for $40 a couple years ago.

mnem

[mnementh]

I'm actually thinking aboot getting my own grinder again from Amazon, but I couldn't be arsed to shop it and the thought of adding all that mess to my life in the middle of a move just makes me cringe...

mnem
^* to certain definitions of the term

Here, "roasted beans, whole" are TWICE the price of "roasted beans, ground". Same brand. No fucking way am I supporting that because-we-can-fuck-you-too pricing.

Just came home with 2 more 450g packs of vacpac Zoegas Skånerost. Local store has them for "2 for 69SEK" which is markedly better than "one for 46SEK" which is the new usual price. They've had that price all week now, and I've bought 2 packs every time I've gone in. Since we go through 2 packs a week what with home work et c. they'll not go stale, neither from storage nor from standing open while consumed.

Yeeeeeahhhh... that's not coffee. Nor is drip-perk in any guise.

mnem
*twitch... twitch... twitcha-twitch...*

[Specmaster]

Well I see that the AVO Multimeter CT38 on eBay sold for £102.11 in the end, was it anyone on here?

[mnementh]

Anyone noticing a new problem with uploading pictures to the forum, the last two posts I added the pictures as usual (missing out the problematic first attachment option) and found a couple of random incorrect pictures from another a previous post of mine instead.
David

Had that happen to me once... a year ago. Has not happened since...

Yeah, this is the long-standing byproduct of the "random wandering singularity" problem I was talking aboot earlier. When it eats a picture, it is as if the picture is "unmade" and erased from all existence; thusly other pictures move location in the database to fill the void.

That said... I've been deliberately not doing the "skip the first" thing for a few days now and nary a hiccup.

mnem

[factory]

Well I see that the AVO Multimeter CT38 on eBay sold for £102.11 in the end, was it anyone on here?

Not me, I got thoroughly outbid.  It made almost as much as the BIN one, which is odd for a collection item.

David

[med6753]

Here it is nearly 0900 hours and I'm just now rolling my sorry arse out of bed. Need coffee. Lots of coffee.

Anyway, the Type 547. It mocks me again although this time in a different manner. Since my last post yesterday showing status it has not failed with the dancing horizontal again. I had it on yesterday for hours and no issues. Even performed several shutdowns and cold starts and it came up and stabilized. Powered it up just now and other than a few unrelated jitters while warming up it's fine. I'd like to pronounce the horizontal issue fixed but I just know it will make a monkey out of me. So I'm going to tempt Murphy and go ahead and say that issue is fixed and then go have a banana. 

My plan today was to restore the vertical output circuit with a big unload of a parts cannon but I think I'm going to let it cook some more.  Given past history with this beast I think it's the prudent thing to do. I have all the time in the world and since I'm making progress for a change I'd rather take it slow. If all is well today then tomorrow I'll rebuild the vertical.

BTW, the current on the external +100V supply never exceeds 320mA which is within the 400mA design limit.         

Can't you rig up some form of a load on the internal power supply (other than the scope) and then increase the load slowly and see how that behaves, maybe arrange it in such a fashion, via a relay, that if an error occurs, before it can damage anything, that the error shuts the system down and alerts you?

Way ahead of you on that thought process.

[mnementh]

      

I'm leaning towards this one as a compromise based on price, SS conical burr, reviews stating it does a decent french-press grind, and almost pass-through design. I expect that if I measure my coffee with a scoop and let it run empty as I used to do, the product shouldn't be too evil.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B089GCRGGZ/

Opinions from my fellow coffee-hounds...?

mnem
 

[mansaxel]

Yeeeeeahhhh... that's not coffee. Nor is drip-perk in any guise.

mnem
*twitch... twitch... twitcha-twitch...*

No brown water from North America comes even close to Zoegas. I invite you to prove me wrong.

The coffee installation at a company in Malvern, PA where I visited back in '98 had three brewers, thusly marked:

• Regular -- this was what the hosts drank, one bag of ground coffee per pot.
• Unleaded -- decaf variant of above.
• Super -- What the European guests preferred, as Regular but TWO bags of ground coffee per pot.

"Super" was barely up to the task, TBH. I stayed at some form of self-support motel, without restaurant, but the rooms had decent kitchen facilities, so went shopping. You haven't been in a country until you've shopped for groceries and taken public transport without a guide.

[mnementh]

I do not drink my coffee raw. I prefer it fully cooked, thank you. 

mnem
I grew up on Ranch coffee. Anything less is pee water.

[Cerebus]

You haven't been in a country until you've shopped for groceries and taken public transport without a guide.

Amen to that, with an added "and you're at best groping with the local language.".

Just as you can tell a lot about a country by the way it treats the most vulnerable within its demesne, you can tell a lot about the people of a country by the way they treat a bewildered foreigner in a shop or in a train station/at a bus stop.

[mansaxel]

I do not drink my coffee raw. I prefer it fully cooked, thank you. 

mnem
I grew up on Ranch coffee. Anything less is pee water.

I usually keep my "boiling coffee" addiction to the forest or the beach. I do make coffee a lot outdoors. When we got a new scout leader joining the local troop, his first question as we were on some gathering was "This is a Coffee Troop, right?" He needn't worry. We make coffee as soon as there's even the smallest reason to. And mostly boiled when outdoors.

[tggzzz]

You haven't been in a country until you've shopped for groceries and taken public transport without a guide.

.. and where you can't read the script and don't know whether to "read" it left to right or right to left - not that it matters, of course! Fortunately there's no need to consider boustrophedonic languages.

[tautech]

Here it is nearly 0900 hours and I'm just now rolling my sorry arse out of bed. Need coffee. Lots of coffee.

Anyway, the Type 547. It mocks me again although this time in a different manner. Since my last post yesterday showing status it has not failed with the dancing horizontal again. I had it on yesterday for hours and no issues. Even performed several shutdowns and cold starts and it came up and stabilized. Powered it up just now and other than a few unrelated jitters while warming up it's fine. I'd like to pronounce the horizontal issue fixed but I just know it will make a monkey out of me. So I'm going to tempt Murphy and go ahead and say that issue is fixed and then go have a banana. 

My plan today was to restore the vertical output circuit with a big unload of a parts cannon but I think I'm going to let it cook some more.  Given past history with this beast I think it's the prudent thing to do. I have all the time in the world and since I'm making progress for a change I'd rather take it slow. If all is well today then tomorrow I'll rebuild the vertical.

BTW, the current on the external +100V supply never exceeds 320mA which is within the 400mA design limit.         

Can't you rig up some form of a load on the internal power supply (other than the scope) and then increase the load slowly and see how that behaves, maybe arrange it in such a fashion, via a relay, that if an error occurs, before it can damage anything, that the error shuts the system down and alerts you?

Way ahead of you on that thought process.

I suspect that rail sequencing relay will be the root of all your troubles. 

[mnementh]

You haven't been in a country until you've shopped for groceries and taken public transport without a guide.

Amen to that, with an added "and you're at best groping with the local language.".

Just as you can tell a lot about a country by the way it treats the most vulnerable within its demesne, you can tell a lot about the people of a country by the way they treat a bewildered foreigner in a shop or in a train station/at a bus stop.

Yeah... yesterday a local constable pulled up next to me in traffic, and motioned me to roll my window down. No lights, no siren, just wanted to talk to me. A few blocks back I had gone around a stopped truck right at an intersection, after another driver had motioned me to go when he started to pull out and saw that I had right of way. I deliberately gave the truck wide berth before pulling back into the outer lane, not knowing whether the driver was on the ground right there or not.

"Yes, sir...?"

"The way you swerved back there, you kindof cut off two people."

"I had right of way, and the other driver waved for me to go. I then got out of the passing lane as quickly as I could after
I passed that truck."

"Well there was the other car..."

"I was easily 2 car lengths ahead of him before I pulled back in; was that really too close?"

"It looked too close from where I was. From now on, just be a little more careful. We don't drive as aggressively around here as you might be used to."

I certainly will, officer. Thank you for your discretion."

The officer then rolled up his window and motioned me to go on about my business.

It didn't even occur to me until a few blocks later that the officer had just given me a talking to for being a rude driver.      Had I been back in Tejas, he wouldn't have even bothered unless it was something he could write me a ticket for...

mnem
...and in some localities, he would have approached the car with gun drawn, just in case.

[mnementh]

I do not drink my coffee raw. I prefer it fully cooked, thank you. 

mnem
I grew up on Ranch coffee. Anything less is pee water.

I usually keep my "boiling coffee" addiction to the forest or the beach. I do make coffee a lot outdoors. When we got a new scout leader joining the local troop, his first question as we were on some gathering was "This is a Coffee Troop, right?" He needn't worry. We make coffee as soon as there's even the smallest reason to. And mostly boiled when outdoors.

Yup. I prefer my coffee not only strong, but surly.

If you throw a horseshoe in the pot and it stands at attention, it's ready.    If it's still attached to the horse, that's dinner for the whole troop.

mnem

NO ZOOP FOR YOU!!!

[med6753]

You haven't been in a country until you've shopped for groceries and taken public transport without a guide.

Amen to that, with an added "and you're at best groping with the local language.".

Just as you can tell a lot about a country by the way it treats the most vulnerable within its demesne, you can tell a lot about the people of a country by the way they treat a bewildered foreigner in a shop or in a train station/at a bus stop.

And despite what you may think, there ARE friendly folks in NYC who are willing to help. Years ago was at a subway stop with a multi platform with trains going in every direction. I'm trying to read the map. Next thing I know this older guy asks me if I need help. I said yes and he directed me to the proper train. Turns out he was an NYPD detective. 

And speaking of which. In 2 weeks those arrogant slobs will be crowding my road when the apple orchards open. Whoopie.   

[Cerebus]

You haven't been in a country until you've shopped for groceries and taken public transport without a guide.

Amen to that, with an added "and you're at best groping with the local language.".

Just as you can tell a lot about a country by the way it treats the most vulnerable within its demesne, you can tell a lot about the people of a country by the way they treat a bewildered foreigner in a shop or in a train station/at a bus stop.

And despite what you may think, they ARE friendly folks in NYC who are willing to help. Years ago was at a subway stop with a multi platform with trains going in every direction. I'm trying to read the map. Next thing I know this older guy asks me if I need help. I said yes and he directed me to the proper train. Turns out he was an NYPD detective. 

And speaking of which. In 2 weeks those arrogant slobs will be crowding my road when the apple orchards open. Whoopie.

Precisely why I make the differentiation between "The Country" (definately in capitals) and the people. America as a country has been a real shitshow for some number of years, but the American people are, by and large, some of the friendliest and most helpful in the world, even New Yorkers. NYC, in my personal experience, is no better or worse than any other large city in the world. Large cities tend to make people keep their distance and adopt a "none of my business" attitude simply because of the huge number of people you can encounter on a daily basis - treat them on a personal basis as you might do in a truly small town and you'd never get anything done.

[Saskia]

You haven't been in a country until you've shopped for groceries and taken public transport without a guide.

Amen to that, with an added "and you're at best groping with the local language.".

Just as you can tell a lot about a country by the way it treats the most vulnerable within its demesne, you can tell a lot about the people of a country by the way they treat a bewildered foreigner in a shop or in a train station/at a bus stop.

And despite what you may think, there ARE friendly folks in NYC who are willing to help. Years ago was at a subway stop with a multi platform with trains going in every direction. I'm trying to read the map. Next thing I know this older guy asks me if I need help. I said yes and he directed me to the proper train. Turns out he was an NYPD detective. 

And speaking of which. In 2 weeks those arrogant slobs will be crowding my road when the apple orchards open. Whoopie.

a while back, in the US ...
I was driving along in a desert down a mountain road when all of a sudden I looked down and saw a turtoise an oncoming state trooper. I noticed that I was doing 95. OOOOPS.
Naturally, lots of blinkenlights.
I saw in the rear mirror that the state trooper was making a U turn.
OOOOOPS.
ok, probably best to already stand before he tries to catch up ...
so I pulled over just about when he was done with the U-Turn.
He approached me (hand on his handgun ...) while I had already lowered the window and was clearly showing my hands.
He asked if I knew why he stopped me and I told him that obviously I had not observed my speed gauge when going downhill and that I was sorry.
He asked me if I had tossed up mph and kph (no sir) and if I was familiar with the cruise control (no sir)
so he explained that and told me to set it to the speed that I presumably wanted to go, namely 55 mph ...
and that I should observe the speed limit and the applicable laws.

ok, I apologized again and he let me go.
95 instead of 55 normally gets you in reaaal trouble in the US ...

but it was rather nice of him to let me off with a warning.
(entirely my fault. I should have observed the limit and not gone way too fast ...

[Specmaster]

You haven't been in a country until you've shopped for groceries and taken public transport without a guide.

Amen to that, with an added "and you're at best groping with the local language.".

Just as you can tell a lot about a country by the way it treats the most vulnerable within its demesne, you can tell a lot about the people of a country by the way they treat a bewildered foreigner in a shop or in a train station/at a bus stop.

And despite what you may think, there ARE friendly folks in NYC who are willing to help. Years ago was at a subway stop with a multi platform with trains going in every direction. I'm trying to read the map. Next thing I know this older guy asks me if I need help. I said yes and he directed me to the proper train. Turns out he was an NYPD detective. 

And speaking of which. In 2 weeks those arrogant slobs will be crowding my road when the apple orchards open. Whoopie.   

What, NYPD detectives are arrogant slobs...no surely not 

[beanflying]

I like this grinder:  https://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-BCG111OB-Blade-Coffee-Grinder/dp/B003WIZ5PC/ref=sxin_13_ac_d_mf_rf?ac_md=6-4-NCB0byA1Ljkgb3ou-ac_d_mf_rf_rf&crid=36KPWCOF2ATVE&cv_ct_cx=coffee+grinder&dchild=1&keywords=coffee+grinder&pd_rd_i=B003WIZ5PC&pd_rd_r=5ba36140-4b1e-4c47-ac08-9495e8e694fb&pd_rd_w=vxXfb&pd_rd_wg=4Ixds&pf_rd_p=e511b89f-6092-4b52-a181-4e1a88ad2c37&pf_rd_r=FJMRD0AK5R806TNYWMFQ&psc=1&qid=1629996093&sprefix=coffee%2Caps%2C207&sr=1-4-1db1fce3-1628-43df-a6c6-84620ba4aaaa

That is not a grinder worthy of coffee. For coffee you want consistent grinds regardless of brew process so a Burr type be it flat or conical. The only place for blade grinders is maybe Turkish/Greek where you want nearly dust but even then you will get large lumps left with one of these POS.